'Polanski's version of Macbeth is a remarkably pessimistic view of the world, antithetical in almost all respects to Shakespeare's.' (Adapted from E. Pearlman, Macbeth on Film: Politics, Reader, p. 145). Discuss.

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AA 306 – TMA 03

‘Polanski’s version of Macbeth is a remarkably pessimistic view of the world, antithetical in almost all respects to Shakespeare’s.’ (Adapted from E. Pearlman, Macbeth on Film: Politics, Reader, p. 145). Discuss.

Prior to discussing its validity, Pearlman’s assertion requires some clarification. It is understood to suggest that through the depiction of tenth or eleventh century Scotland, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Polanski’s cinematic version of it, present particular views of the political world.  The issues, which the play and the film raise, are generic, in that they can apply beyond the specific setting.  Although Pearlman records Polanski’s own observation that the scene in which Macduff’s castle is invaded draws on his own life experiences, his assertion does not suggest that the play and film represent the comprehensive worldviews of Shakespeare and Polanski respectively. This would require close interpretation within the context of their bodies of work, absent from Polanski’s essay.  

Pearlman argues that Shakespeare’s view of the political world expressed in Macbeth is characterised by optimism, while criticising Polanski for his pessimism. This view is largely, though not wholly sustained, the locus of disagreement being that Shakespeare’s play does also incorporate elements of pessimism.  In the context of this argument, Shakespeare’s Macbeth suggests that instances of ambition leading to political disloyalty and the resultant tragedy are limited to unique individuals, with political harmony ultimately restored after a period of violence.  Polanski’s version of Macbeth is ‘remarkably pessimistic’ in contrast, because it portrays a pervasive capacity for disloyalty among the political class, driven by ambition and the weakness of political society and leading to ‘endlessly recurring conflict’. The play and film are considered in conjunction, largely chronologically, focusing on specific scenes, theatrical or cinematic techniques and characterisation.

The early scenes of Polanski’s Macbeth mirror and expand upon elements of pessimism in Shakespeare’s play.  The opening scene of the film reinterprets that of the play by focusing on the impending demise of Cawdor and prefacing the transfer of the mantle of ambition and disloyalty from Cawdor to Macbeth, which Shakespeare’s text subsequently implies. The beach on which the three witches meet is the same beach on which the fighting is later shown to have taken place and Cawdor captured.  The circle, which they draw in the sand, symbolises Cawdor’s fate drawing to a close and the beginning of another cycle of disorder through Macbeth.  The burying of a hangman’s noose previews Cawdor’s death, which Polanski dramatises later in the film, while the severed hand holding a dagger which is laid over the noose also previews that ‘dagger’ which ‘marshall’st’ Macbeth to murder Duncan (2.1.33 & 42). Thus, ‘ere the set of sun’ and  ‘When the hurly-burly’s done’ / When the battle’s lost and won’ Cawdor’s fate will be sealed and it will be time for the witches to ‘meet with Macbeth’ (1.1.5, 3-4 & 8).

Amongst the possible interpretations of the role of the witches, which Shakespeare’s text permits, the opening scene of Polanski’s Macbeth emphasises their role as ‘weird sisters’ (3.4.132), instruments of fate. They can be viewed as the symbolic manifestation of the individual psyche and, specifically, the ‘(t)hriftless ambition, that will raven up’ (2.4.28) both Cawdor and Macbeth, and which later appears nascent in other characters.  Beyond the control of the individuals this ambition becomes their fate.   Polanski reinforces this interpretation through the rearrangement of the text, translating Shakespeare’s dramatic irony into the suggestion of a psychological connection between Macbeth and the witches: line 10 of the first scene is moved to the beginning and the first 35 lines of 1.3. are cut, so that the opening of the film, with the witches chanting ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ (1.1.10) is mirrored by Macbeth’s first words, ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’ (1.3.36).  

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Polanski draws out Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony to strengthen the association between Cawdor and Macbeth, which is implicit in the play. An instance of this dramatic irony is the labelling of Cawdor as a ‘rebel’ and ‘slave’ (1.2.10 & 20) followed by Duncan’s instruction to Ross to ‘greet Macbeth’ with Cawdor’s ‘former title’ (1.2.65). Macbeth’s own recognition that ‘I am Thane of Cawdor’ (1.3.132) comes amidst his initial murderous thoughts, ‘that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair’ (1.3.133-4).  Polanski physically installs Cawdor as a character in the film, juxtaposing him with Macbeth. At the end ...

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